Novyi Vzgliad: Violence, Political Irony, and National Pride

Novyi Vzgliad authors write some of the most scandalous and incendiary political commentaries of the 1990s, producing new forms of political irony. Iaroslav Mogutin and Eduard Limonov turn violence into a paradoxical source of identity. The main artifact here–an article by Mogutin–exemplifies this process.

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The World Made of Plastic Has Won

Egor Letov performs his song “Moia oborona” (My defense), during his “concert in the hero city Leningrad,” part of Grazhdanskaia oborona’s 1994 tour Russkii proryv (Russian breakthrough).

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Mumiy Troll's Breakthrough “Utekai (Take Off)" Becomes the 1997 Song of the Year

Mumiy Troll’s 1997 breakthrough song “Utekai” (Take off) displayed the combination of surrealism, dark humor, and provincial romanticism that defined the band’s trademark style.

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“Stalin, Beria, Gulag!”: The Natsboly Oppose Gaidar and Mikhalkov

Two early direct actions organized by young members of the National Bolshevik Party combined self-martyrdom with totalitarian stiob.

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Soviet identity and Jewish Emigration on KVN

An excerpt from the 1992 season of the amateur variety improv competition show, KVN, in which an Israeli team of recent Russian émigrés competes against former compatriots in Moscow

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Soviet Engineers become Post-Soviet Aristocrats on TV

Chto? Gde? Kogda? (What? Where? When?) goes through an aristocratic overhaul and becomes an "intellectual casino'

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